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the 2.95 impulse. When his wife died, he feigned the unmarried life, but secretly sending to the leading men of the senate he persuaded them to urge him to be joined to another wife, and if he were not persuaded, they were to threaten to use force, putting forward a supposedly plausible pretext, that it was not right for them to be subject to an emperor, while their wives were deprived of a mistress and empress. So at long last he was persuaded by these fabricated arguments, and first he demanded written pledges of loyalty from his subjects, that they would exceedingly honor both his future wife and the children to be born from her after his death, and that after him they would have them as emperors and her as empress. Thus he thought he would rule not only his own age but also the one after him. Then he was persuaded by the artful requests of the senate, and he took to marriage a certain woman long ago betrothed to Christ and having embraced the monastic life and living as a nun since childhood in the monastery on Prinkipo; her name was Euphrosyne, and she is said to be the daughter of the emperor Constantine, whom his mother Irene justly blinded for his licentiousness. And these things were done in this way. Michael sent another fleet against the Saracens in Crete, appointing as their general Craterus, who administered the command of the Cibyrrhaeots; who, having taken the seventy biremes under his command and all those from the other islands, arrived 2.96 at Crete with the greatest arrogance and did not find the Hagarenes yielding, but rather bravely facing the danger. When battle was joined, from the time the sun lit up the mountain peaks until midday, neither side gave way, but holding out bravely they persevered. Just as the day was declining, the Cretans, having grown weary, gave way to flight, and many of them died in the battle, and more, throwing down their arms, were taken captive. And perhaps the city would have been taken that very day, had not the coming of night completely overturned matters. For the Romans, as if they had already won, and hoping to capture all of them on the morrow with little effort since they were few, as if living in their own land and not in a foreign one, gave themselves over to drinking and revelry, taking no thought for any guard or other security, but only for sleep and rest and ease, which easily overturns everything. Wherefore around midnight the Cretans, since, sleepless in their distress, they learned from their own lookouts that those of the Roman camp were overcome with wine and sleep, falling upon them at once with a shout and finding them all overcome with drunkenness, utterly destroyed them, so that not even a messenger, as the saying goes, was left. Only the general, boarding a certain merchant ship, sought safety for himself. When the chief of the Saracens, after much searching, did not find him either among the fallen or among the captives, and learned that he had gone off as a fugitive, he sent 2.97 pursuers; who, having caught him on the island of Cos, hanged him on a gibbet and killed him. After this a certain man, warlike and not without sense and shrewdness, Ooryphas by surname, having gathered a certain army by imperial command, then called the "tessarakontarion" from the forty gold pieces distributed to each of them, visited the other islands and destroyed the plundering Hagarenes, setting ambushes for some and openly warring with others, and he checked the Cretans and restrained their great and irresistible impulse. And these things came about in this way. At the same time a certain man Euphemius, leading some troops in Sicily, having fallen in love with a certain virgin who had taken up the monastic habit since childhood, made it a matter of great importance to fulfill his own desire, caring nothing at all for the laws, but looking only to the emperor as an example, who himself had dared such a thing. So he seizes the virgin from the convent and to himself

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τὴν 2.95 ὁρμήν. τῆς γαμετῆς οὖν τελευτησάσης αὐτοῦ ὑπεποιεῖτο μὲν τὸν ἄζυγα βίον, λάθρᾳ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς προύχοντας τῆς συγκλήτου πέμπων ἀνέπεισε παρ' αὐτῶν παρακαλεῖσθαι ἑτέρᾳ συζευχθῆναι γυναικί, εἰ μὴ πεισθείη δέ, καὶ βίαν ἐπενεγκεῖν ἀπειλούντων, πρόφασιν δῆθεν εὔσχημον προτεινομένων, ὡς οὐ δέον αὐτοὺς μὲν ὑπὸ βασιλεῖ τάττεσθαι, τὰς δὲ αὐτῶν γυναῖκας δεσποίνης στερεῖ σθαι καὶ βασιλίδος. ἐπέπειστο οὖν ὀψέ ποτε διὰ τῶν ἐπιπλα στῶν λόγων, καὶ πρῶτα μὲν ἀπῄτει χειρόγραφα τοὺς ὑπηκόους εὐνοίας, ὡς αὐτήν τε τὴν ἐσομένην αὐτῷ γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς τεχθησόμενα μετὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ θάνατον ὑπερβαλλόντως τιμήσουσι, καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνον βασιλέας ἔχοιεν κἀκείνην δέσποιναν. οὕτως οὐ τοῦ κατ' ἐκεῖνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ μετ' αὐτὸν ᾤετο κρατήσειν αἰῶ νος. εἶτα καὶ ταῖς μετὰ τέχνης αἰτήσεσι πείθεται τῆς συγκλήτου, καὶ ἠγάγετο πρὸς γάμον γυναῖκά τινα πάλαι νυμφευθεῖσαν Χριστῷ καὶ τὸν μοναδικὸν ἀσπασαμένην βίον κἀν τῷ ἐν τῇ Πριγκήπῳ μο ναστηρίῳ μονάζουσαν ἐκ παιδός· Εὐφροσύνη ταύτης ἡ κλῆσις, πατρὸς δὲ λέγεται εἶναι Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ βασιλέως, ὃν ἡ μήτηρ Εἰρήνη δικαίως διὰ τὰς σφετέρας ἀπετύφλωσεν ἀκολασίας. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπράττετο τῇδε. Ὁ δὲ Μιχαὴλ ἕτερον στόλον ἐκπέμπει κατὰ τῶν ἐν Κρήτῃ Σαρακηνῶν, στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσας αὐτοῖς Κρατερὸν τὸν τῶν Κι βυρραιωτῶν διέποντα τὴν ἀρχήν· ὃς ἑβδομήκοντα διήρεις τὰς ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν λαβὼν καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων νήσων ἁπάσας, ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ 2.96 γενόμενος μετὰ μεγίστου φρυάγματος οὐδὲ τοὺς Ἀγαρηνοὺς ὑπο κλινομένους εὗρεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς γενναίως ὑποστάντας τὸν κίνδυνον. συμπλοκῆς δὲ γενομένης, ἤδη τοῦ ἡλίου τὰς ἀκρωρείας αὐγάζοντος ἄχρι μεσούσης ἡμέρας, οὐδέτερον μέρος ἀπέκλινεν, ἀλλὰ γενναίως ἀντέχοντες ἐκαρτέρουν. ἄρτι δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας κλι νούσης πονήσαντες οἱ Κρῆτες ἐνέδωκαν εἰς φυγήν, καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ἀπέθανον, πλείονες δὲ τὰ ὅπλα ῥίψαντες ᾐχμαλωτίσθησαν. τάχα δ' ἂν ἑάλω καὶ ἡ πόλις αὐθημερόν, εἰ μὴ νὺξ ἐπιγενομένη ἀνέτρεψε τέλεον τὰ πράγματα. Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἤδη τάχα νενικηκότες, καὶ πάντας αὔριον ἐν βραχεῖ βρα χεῖς ὄντας ἐλπίσαντες συλλαβεῖν, ὡς ἐν οἰκείᾳ ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν ἀλλο τρίᾳ διάγοντες, πρὸς πότους καὶ τρυφὰς ἐξεβάκχευον, μήτε τινὸς φυλακῆς μήτ' ἄλλης σωτηρίας φροντίσαντες, ὕπνου δὲ μόνου καὶ τῆς πάντα ῥᾳδίως ἀνατρεπούσης ἀναπαύλης τε καὶ ῥᾳστώνης. ὅθεν περὶ μέσας νύκτας οἱ Κρῆτες, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἑαυτῶν φυλάκων ὡς ἐν ἀπορίᾳ ἀγρυπνοῦντες οἴνῳ καὶ ὕπνῳ τοὺς τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐμάνθανον κατεχομένους, αὐθωρὸν ἐπιπεσόντες μετ' ἀλαλαγμοῦ καὶ μέθῃ κατεσχημένους εὑρόντες ἅπαντας ἄρδην ἀπώ λεσαν, ὡς μηδ' ἄγγελον, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τοῦ λόγου, περιλειφθῆναι· μόνος δ' ὁ στρατηγὸς ἐμπορικοῦ τινὸς πλοίου ἐπιβὰς τὴν σωτη ρίαν ἑαυτῷ ἐμνηστεύετο. ὡς δὲ πολλὰ ζητήσας ὁ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν ἀρχηγὸς τοῦτον οὐχ εὕρισκεν οὔτ' ἐν τοῖς πεσοῦσιν οὔτ' ἐν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις, ἔμαθε δ' ὅτι φυγὰς ᾤχετο, τοὺς καταδιώξοντας 2.97 ἔπεμψεν· οἳ καὶ καταλαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐν Κῷ τῇ νήσῳ ξύλῳ κρε μάσαντες ἀπέκτειναν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνήρ τις πολεμικὸς καὶ φρονήσεως καὶ ἀγχινοίας οὐκ ἄμοιρος, τὸ ἐπώνυμον Ὀρύφας, στρατόν τινα προστάξει ἀθροίσας βασιλικῇ, τὸν τεσσαρακοντά ριον τότε καλούμενον ἐκ τοῦ διανεμηθῆναι αὐτοῖς ἀνὰ τεσσαρά κοντα χρυσίνους, τάς τε ἄλλας νήσους ἐπιὼν ἀνῄρει τοὺς προνο μεύοντας Ἀγαρηνούς, τοῖς μὲν λόχους ἐπάγων τοῖς δὲ φανερῶς πολεμῶν, καὶ τοὺς Κρῆτας συνέστειλε καὶ τῆς πολλῆς καὶ ἀσχέτου ὁρμῆς ἀνεχαίτισε. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν συνηνέχθη τῇδε. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν Εὐφήμιός τις ἀνὴρ κατὰ Σικελίαν λαοῦ τινὸς ἐξηγούμενος, ἐρασθεὶς παρθένου τινὸς τὸ μοναδικὸν ἐκ παιδὸς ἀναλαβούσης σχῆμα, περὶ πολλοῦ ἐποιεῖτο τὸν οἰκεῖον ἔρωτα ἐκπληρῶσαι, τῶν νόμων οὐδὲ φροντίζων ὅλως, ἀλλ' ὡς εἰς παρά δειγμα μόνον ἀποβλέπων τὸν βασιλέα, τοιοῦτόν τι τολμήσαντα καὶ αὐτόν. ἁρπάζει γοῦν τὴν παρθένον τοῦ ἀσκητηρίου καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν